FOREIGN LANGUAGE/CULTURE: attend Spanish story time and Mandarin Chinese classes. Practice speaking and writing Chinese characters; learn more about the traditions of Chinese New Year. Meet Chinese author Ying Chang Compestine: some of her books are: The Story of Noodles, D is for Dragon Dance, The Story of Paper, The Real Story of Stone Soup, The Story of Kites, The Runaway Rice Cake, The Story of Chopsticks, Secrets of Fat-Free Chinese Cooking.

ART: Discoveries in Art class: study of lines (observation) and finding the edges (contours) of objects; trace edges of objects in black marker and fill in with bright colors.

MUSIC: listen to classical and contemporary music; read along and sing some music during Mass;

COMPUTER SKILLS: learn about and run some UNIX commands; set up and fill in a calendar on the computer; set up an iTunes playlist of favorite songs and stations.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

2nd Grade Activities: Week 23

RELIGION: daily prayer; study Good Shepherd Catholic Catechism in preparation for 1st Communion; attend Mass; watch Francis Xavier and the Samurai's Lost Treasure video; research and find a brief history of Xavier with accompanying art:http://www.artsales.com/ARTistory/Xavier/Xavier_1.html

HANDWRITING: review shapes of sandpaper lowercase letters a-e; make large ones and decorate, trace letters in a paste.

SCIENCE/NATURE: observation and care of fish and ants; observe and play with various breeds of dogs at a dog park; watch a video about Koko the gorilla and friends, their behavior, and their ability to communicate with humans using a form of sign language [A Conversation with Koko, Nature Video Library]. Nature videos: Eyewitness Videos: Life, Monster, Pond and River, Reptile.

HISTORY: read from The Story of the World I: The Old Kingdom of Egypt: read from a book about the Rosetta Stone: its discovery and significance to deciphering hieroglyphics; peruse books about the Valley of the Kings, the Great Pyramid, Tutankahmen, and Technology in the Time of Ancient Egypt.

Monday, February 05, 2007

2nd Grade Activities: Week 22

MATH: do problems in the book: Can You Count in Greek: Exploring Ancient Number Systems (Judy and Kathy Leimbach): tally, Egyptian: read and write numbers in each; solve 13 word problems from Techniques of Problem Solving: Problem Deck A: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and money problems; use Montessori place value cards to make large numbers (up to the hundred millions).

PHONICS: work in Explode the Code 3: review the sounds of long e, a, and o in vowel diagraphs: ee, ea, ai, ay, oa, ow; watch Between the Lions: Bug Beard and Pigs Aplenty.

HISTORY: read from The Story of the World I: The Old Kingdom of Egypt: Making Mummies and Egyptian Pyramids.Explore the Pyramid and the Sphinx online:NOVA Online/Pyramids—The Inside Storyhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/khufuunflo.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/explore/sphinx.htmlRead The Boston Coffee Party, Doreen Rappaport (historical fiction).